Garbage bill that affects Solano County approved by state Senate

A bill to undermine a voter-approved initiative in Solano County that limits garbage coming into its landfills successfully grabbed enough votes Thursday from the California Senate.

Assembly Bill 845 is headed back to the Assembly for concurrence, if it's approved the bill will make its way to Gov. Jerry Brown, where he will either sign or veto it.

On Thursday, AB 845 received 22 yes votes and 14 no votes, with four senators choosing not to vote.

Earlier this week, the bill didn't receive the required 21 votes to pass. Instead, it was held for reconsideration and was voted on again and approved Thursday.

"We'll see what happens," said Duane Kromm from the Solano Orderly Growth Committee. "I was hoping it would be a different vote. The bill is only protecting the interests of private companies. It screws over Solano County. We'll continue to be the dumping ground for the Bay Area."

That's not the only thing that stinks, according to opponents of the bill.

A last-minute switch by author Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, D-San Francisco, took the active AB 845, gutted it and filled it in with the language from AB 1178.

Simply put, the new AB 845 is the old AB 1178.

Nearly 30 years ago, Solano County voters enacted Measure E, which limited the amount of out-of-county trash hauled into its jurisdiction with an annual cap on solid-waste imports to no more than 95,000 tons.

Solano stopped enforcing the rule in the 1990s because it believed a federal court had negated it. Opponents of an attempt to expand the Portero Hills Landfill outside Suisun City, however, sued the county. A Superior Court judge agreed that the law should be enforced and that decision is now in the hands of the 1st District Court of Appeal. It is believed by opponents that if the county enforced the limit, an expansion at Potrero Hills is not needed.

Ma, whose district includes garbage companies that bring waste into Solano County, tried to circumvent the courts with AB 1178, which made it through the Assembly but stalled in the state Senate.

Ma's efforts didn't stop there, continuing with the new AB 845.

State Sens. Noreen Evans and Lois Wolk, both D-Solano, have opposed the bill.

"I'm disappointed that this effort to circumvent the will of the people in Solano County succeeded in a last-minute end run around the legislative process," Evans said. "The bill undermines the vote of the people, the judicial process and the authority of local government. It totally trashes local control and I will continue to voice my opposition to the governor in urging a veto."